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>>23350138
Thread Questions:
>does your setting use elements of cosmic horror or Cosmicism as lovecraft defined it? In other words, are human insignificant in your setting or are there things beyond mortal understanding?
>what's the weirdest cult/religion in your setting? (It doesn't need to involve tentacled monsters though

I'm starting out on writing on a story, focusing on world building so I can have a basis for a setting. My big issue is that I'm drawing inspiration from Isekai tropes, and I'm unsure if I should fully commit.
What I have written down is
> Bloodborne inspired
> Conflict between a Goddess and Star Gods
> Victorian/Gaelic Influence
> Continent is called Ervos

>>23350366
What do you mean by "bloodborne inspired" exactly?
Bloodborne is a very complex setting, which mixes gothic and lovecraftian horror with a victorian esthetic.
Note that human gods being actually real goes against lovecraft's idea that the world does not care about us.

So are soft magic systems generally determined by the paradigm of the character that is capable/acquired the ability of using magic? That's my current understanding at least, and it's made my cosmology currently structured like this
>Onion skin layering
>Biosphere exists within the Noosphere
>Noosphere (Realm of Thought) exists within the Infosphere or (Realm of Ideas)
>Infosphere exists within and is fueled by the Patasphere (Realm of Possibility or the Source)
And those that can develop the ability to use magic do so by tapping into the highest plane through their Foci, and both their intent and limits of their magic are determined by their own perceptions or Ego. Very few can learn to utilize this magic system and even fewer if any know of the structure of this cosmology but I have the idea to maybe incorporate smaller conceptual spheres for magic similar to how Mage the Ascension has it set up.
It's still in a rough state but I like the premise so far, I think the biggest thing I need to work on is including more limitations because it'll allow for more creative problem solving I feel.

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I've been fascinated by the idea of an Anafabula (or Anti-Narrative) since learning about it through the SCP wiki. The idea that an entity conscious or not is attracted to certain realities due to having apparently the right set of narrative features for the purpose of consuming them, it's a cool take on existential horror.
But the question then becomes how would a protagonist or group of protagonists even begin to tackle such an ontological antagonist? My running thought is that they would somehow have to understand what it is and then bring it to a level of relative "reality" in their narrative so that they can defeat them through the laws/logic their universe has.
Perhaps it's too complicated of a concept to be appealing however, but it something that could be revolutionary in writing if executed correctly.

bump

>>23350735
it's interesting but seems like itd be extremely cerebral and difficult the average reader to wrap their head around if it was purely in text form. a multimedia approach could be cool. imagine texts between characters that get corrupted, or photos of friends that are dissolving away from reality, told from the perspective of someone who is trying to figure out what's happening to them. with text to supplement the story

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Post your fantasy setting using this template, lads.

Femdom matriarchy setting where female alchemists rule the world.

>>23351257
gay dinosaurs in a tribal libertarian society evolving on an alderson disc

Consports

>>23351257
FULLY GAY SPACE COMMUNISM!!!!

>>23351195
Ideally I'd have made this into an animated series so there would be a ton of ways to play with the concept.
Taking this idea and applying it to the BBEG I already have:
>Have interstellar war between the celestials of orderly creation (representing ideas being filtered through thought into reality) and the insane feral denizens of chaos and unrestricted evolution (representing unorganized ideas with no thought behind them, not Anti-Narrative but just the lack of narrative)
>Have a character, I was thinking an unborn child to really drive home the metaphor, be given great potential to end the war but is struck down before its born
>Have it be ambiguous whether the anafabula existed before the child died and was given sapience by its hatred or whether it was made by the child dying but either way it would represent a Narrative that wasn't allowed to exist. And if it isn't allowed to exist, then nothing else should either
As far as actually making it something that a party of heroes could actually defeat I haven't gotten that far yet, but I feel that I'm getting there.

>>23351257
Robot girls.
Anarcho-capitalistism.
Point gun at NAP violator and they die (magically.)
Chad space oper8r with robot girl harem.

>>23351257
>Your kink and political power fantasy?
Functional non-human mildly matriarchal setting overall, with one specific harshly femdom and hellishly erotic all female staffed prison facility used to safely contain a weird demonic hairless monkey puppy pet thing they've encountered. Lots of misinterpretation as to the monkey thing's own nature with flimsy rationalizations as to how to supervise and train it's behavior appropriately.
>Esoteric magic system?
Clark's law, for which they misinterpret their own super advanced nano/pico-technology as magic.
>Characters?
Various mares of MLP in gorgeous anthropomorphic forms.

>>23351257
Misogynistic setting with legal harems, where all women remain barefoot sex slaves for powerful men.

Liberal mixed government where Constitutional Monarchs (with quite a lot of real power) rule with the help of unelected aristocrats and elected Parliament.

Imagination based magic that works on Hindu philosophy.

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>>23351380
Is this supposed to be a Po-Ju universe?

>>23351417
Yeah, I think somehow grounding the story into readable actions taken by a main character will be difficult. I have no idea how you'd describe celestial god beings willing things into existence or waking a war of enormous proportions without it just feeling confusing or missing anything the reader could relate to ground it. Feels like it would need some crazy art or animation to get across what's happening. it's just undescribable once it gets esoteric enough

>>23351257
I just realized that my setting is unironically this. Should I be worried?
Like literally, there's ancap wizards that mind control slaves in my setting.

>>23351677
OwO what's that??

>>23351417
>>23352217
It can be done.
Purely from the written word, I would guess both Piers Anthony and Roger Zelazny would be the exemplars in this genera. Limitations in how things "work", and limitations on the scope of power the beings wield, are kinda important here. Especially when said beings, outside of their power, are just regular people and are in opposition. Then they have to roll up their sleeves and dive in. It's just basic storytelling, character and characterization, showing us what your characters are made of. Etc.
>>23352323
Worried ... why? You might just be the next John Lange/John Norman. So go pile on the rape and adverbs and enjoy the hell out of it.

>>23351257
Super-heroes isekai setting where heroes gain powers by defeating villains in certain points of the world.

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>>23350138
I’m making a world full of elemental spirits of the classic quartet of elements, and I need some ideas on what kind of appearance and forms they might take other than just their respective elements in a vaguely humanoid form. My only idea so far is something small and cute like this guy from Pandaria in World of Warcraft. What about abilities for said elementals besides shooting blasts of their element or commanding lesser elementals? Or what names one can give them?

>>23350156
Cosmic horror is exclusively played as a joke in my story, because I'm a retard who thinks "cool thing, but it's portrayed as lame and kinda cringe" is the absolute pinnacle of comedy.
>what's the weirdest cult/religion in your setting?
An entire race of schizo spiders who think they are in the middle of an apocalypse, and all the other races are demons come to drag them to Hell. Which would be cute if they didn't have a knack for webbing bones together to make "bone-mech" monstrosities they can pilot.

They think their God is currently battling the other gods, and when he's victorious he will return to them with their bones, which they will use to finally cleanse the world of demonic filth.

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I present to you: a template for adversarial factions
Hero (Justice/Vanity)
> Ally: explorer, soldier
> Enemy: creature
Creature (Nature/Chaos)
> Ally: soldier, sorcerer
> Enemy: explorer
Explorer (Exploration/Thievery)
> Ally: sorcerer, hero
> Enemy: soldier
Soldier (Order/Control)
> Ally: hero, creature
> Enemy: sorcerer
Sorcerer (Knowledge/Arrogance)
> Ally: creature, explorer
> Enemy: hero

example 1:
Aboard a sailing ship, crossing into dangerous, unmapped waters
>Captain, the hero.
>Crew, soldiers
>Passengers, explorers
>Sea monsters, creatures
>Storm witches, sorcerers
Our intrepid captain must keep his crew and passengers safe while battling sea monsters and suffering the presence of a storm witch who is the only one capable of keeping weather at bay. Secretly, the passengers have brought along an object which attracts the monsters, as their true purpose is to study and catalog them, underestimating the danger it would put them in. Meanwhile, the crew grows exhausted by the demanding biologists and enigmatic storm witch and take no pleasure in fighting off sea monsters.

example 2:
A palace
>hero: the nobles
>soldier: the guards
>explorer: the staff
>creature: escaped menagerie
>sorcerer: advisors
Advisors to the royalty secretly release the deadly animals from the private menagerie in an attempt to rid themselves of as many impertinent nobility as they can. Tigers, bears, wolves run amok and largely just eat the maids and butlers. The guards exclusively protect the nobles and ignore the animals in favor of hunting down the advisors who they suspect are behind the event. A group of trapped nobility finds a stash of antique weapons and takes it upon themselves to hunt down the animals.

Interesting? I found that I was easily able to make interesting, conflict-rich dynamics. The part that ended up producing the most interesting results was enforcing the asymmetrical nature of the relationship, is that a given faction's enemy faction does not consider them an enemy back.

>>23350371
I was thinking of the environment, the clothing, the griminess of Yharnam, along side the intense gothic architecture. The simple elegance and subtlety of the hunters, the sheer brutality and bloodlust. Though in my notes, I've written that the world should resemble Late Victorian Era Europe, like 3rd French Republic, german Empire etc.

I have to say, that in my notes (what little there is) the eldritch gods weren't even present on Ervos, as in they had no presence, not even ruins or old cities. Rather they were called in what I've written down as the "Astral Decent". The Goddess is now competing against an outside context problem.

All of this is very early stuff, so I don't have anything concrete right now.

>>23354320
Again, if you want to mantain a lovecraftian feel, human gods should be false.
Maybe the ones that are against the idea of calling eldritch abomination is the church? That would make sense and I think it's more interesting as you would have a aort of religious civil war and also you would have the chance to talk about dying religions and decadent churches.

>>23351482
Okay, so what made the government legalize the harems, and how does the magic work for those of us that don’t know Hindu philosophy?

>>23351316
Okay, I have to hear more about this please.

I got sent here from fantasy/sci-fi:
So real talk:
Are you better making up your own unique races and having to explain more, or taking the old races and just changing little things about them to make them your own?

>>23355286
>>23354320
YOu could also go for the angle that the human Gods are misunderstood.

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>>23350138
For my fantasy world I’m trying to come up with both magic items, and the materials for them. You see, the idea is that different materials channel types of magic differently, so if you want a magic item that uses Fire magic, for instance, you would want to use materials aligned with that kind of magic, like Obsidian, in order to make it more efficient and powerful. Especially in the case of weapons, as while the quality of the material does play a part, and there’s a couple other loopholes and exceptions, you can only cram so much magic into a physical object before it starts getting diminishing returns or even compromises the integrity of the magic item (hence why every magic sword isn’t as powerful as Excalibur), so for magic weapons you want substances that are tough enough to withstand smashing and slashing shit but are still aligned with the type(s) of magic you want it to harness.

Some of the specific types of magic I’m looking for ideas on, especially in regards to materials, are Healing Magic, Necromancy (my best ideas for materials other than bones is Amber with insects trapped inside), and maybe a few for Darkness magic. Any help please?

So what, there'd be a huge market for people who willing to brave volcanoes to sell Wizards lava rocks?
A business for those who are willing to provide even shards of harpy eggs to Air Magicians?
An earth mage ran slave division of miners who produce quality minerals to provide earth magos with their spell ingredients?

>>23350138
Sup, I'm new here. I also post sometimes on /co/ Is it allowed to post written stories as PDF? nobody in /co/ seems to read them

I also have some lore to post, share and have feedback from other stories (too big to write/draw)

>>23356306
So what, it’s like an ant trying to understand us?

>>23357303
Sure anon. I would love some fresh material around here.

>>23357339
Great, because right now I can share two different stories, both fantasy / sci-fi

https://4b04944a-39ba-4b60-939d-7e5adbf77968.filesusr.com/ugd/69a1af_e619f56011394a9c8e8bb6857f0dfb03.pdf

https://4b04944a-39ba-4b60-939d-7e5adbf77968.filesusr.com/ugd/69a1af_320761ce3e5941c6836fea74be332694.pdf

these are the URL's, just copy and paste. It also have some illustrations to make it less boring, and thanks.

>>23357353
You can upload pdf directly here as you would post images, given size limits of course.
Haven't read it all, but nice drawing nonetheless anon!!!

>>23357365
I only drew the characters in color, the other story in b/w was drawn by a friend lol, you can go to their twitter at the end of the story, in the credits (but thanks)

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>>23350138
In a story I'm currently making, due to the concept of the elements originally meaning that everything was made from them in different proportions, I make it so every fantasy race represents a different aspect of an element. For example, both Elves and Dwarves are tied to the element of Earth, but show it in different ways. Dwarves represent the metals and potential hidden within and show it by shaping said metals into new and wonderful forms and by being tough and durable. In the case of Elves they represent the greatest of trees with their longevity (they can live several centuries on average) and the wisdom that comes with it, but can also fall into rigid patterns of thinking and have trouble adapting quickly. I'm trying to come up with elements and aspects for the other races as well, like Goblins for Fire, Sirens for Water, and Tengu for Wind, what do you think, and do you have any advice on other races I can choose and elements and aspects I can choose for them? I was thinking that Kitsunes and Oni might be Fire-aligned, and sapient Slimefolk for a Water-aligned race, what say you?

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>>23356853
You're replying to >23356680, right? Because I almost didn't notice the reply at first.

As for your question, it doesn't have to be that extreme. One person I talked to suggested that things like coal can work for lower-grade Fire magic items, and things like Rubies or other red gemstones could also work for Fire items, just to give a few examples that tie into what you were talking about. Also, harpy eggshell fragments might be an idea I use for Air magic items, thanks! What other ideas do you have for magic items or materials, especially for the types of magic I listed in my original post?

>>23351482
Your setting sounds like heaven.

is this the place to ask about magic systems? I hate to bring up an anime but I love the system in Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, is there any book like that?

>>23357930
maybe i should just concertedly try to get into the mistborn series, properly, but every time ive tried so far its been such a dry read

>>23357938
The Name of the Wind has the best hard magic system ever written and it's very pleasant to read.

>>23357957
I heard it's trash

>>23357993
You heard right.

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>>23350156
Ooooohhhhhh boy
My world starts out as a somewhat generic "postpost apocalyptic" world, meaing there was an apocalypse, but it was so long ago that no one remembers it and the world has been rebuilt on the (literal) ashes of the previous one. I have the clichés (classics) like ancient technology being super advanced, and a "le precursor race" they call the fallen, but it gets more convoluted than that as the story unfolds
So basically there were these spacewhales which were divine creatures and humans killed one (illegal, really upset God(it was more of a disappointment than anger type thing)) and stole it's divine "dna" to try and enchance humanity or whatever, but what they really did was "unlock the power of creation" for demons/ayy lmaos/fallen angels to use for themselves, so they were able to transform creatures, people, etc, into kronenbergesque monstrosities that ranged from tiny level to giganitc world ending level like pic rel. Anyways, long story short the humans won the war at the cost of the world being destoryed, population being way more than decimated, and remnant of these creatures still roaming about every so often when the gene activates or whatever. In the modern age, the extent of the lovecraftian infuence is much different. It's more subtle. Basically there's a whole host of "people" that are essentially puppeted in a hivemind controled by various ayys that roam around and just try to kill shit/assume others into their cult. One of the main characters is the prince of a city which is constantly at war with these assholes

What think? It's alot more concise it my head and none of this information will be outright given btw. It'll be dripfed through the entire story only to be pieced together like a puzzle.

>>23351257
>affection
>fascism
>elementally based
>big booba teenage girls
Rate mine
Spoiler, it's just AtLA fire nation with me married to Ty Lee and her sisters

>>23353522
How about aminal avatars that are "colored" by their element but are not usually associated with it. Like you would expect a a fire elemental to be a dragonlike lizard or something, but you wouldn't expect to see a deer with antlers that are prepetually on fire. Similarly, birds would normally be air elementals, but you could instead make an air elemental that's a snake

>>23355288
1. It was just never banned. Powerful men have been having harems since forever, and those marriages are recognized by law.
2. Reality is just a collective illusion that keeps us from seeing the truth, a dream that we are all in. Magic allows us to, for lack of a better word, "lucid dream" and control reality as we see fit.

>>23357885
For who? Not for the women, who are glorified slaves. Not for most men, who struggle to find wives because the elites hoard all the good women. Not for the powerful men either, because their lives of hedonism are empty and most are literally suicidally depressed.

It's hell. But I find it kinky.

>>23356301
It depends on what you want out of your story anon. If you feel like the classics of elf and dorf and whatnot are enough for you to tell a good story then go ahead and tell it, but if you need them to be more complex and unique for any reason you can explore that, too. Maybe your world doesnt have the same type of environments that are standard and earth-like. If that's the case, you might be better off creating a race of gladiator/roman coded psyonic lion people (race I played in stellaris)
It all depends. There's no one right answer

>>23350138
Does an accoustic guitar float?
Is it enough to save someone from drowning?

>>23356680
>healing magic
Herbs and spices is kinda obvious. So are holy symbols and stuff. Those arent badz but a little bland. How about live animals? For example, maybe a healer has to carry around and care for a songbird whose chirping enhances healing potency. Maybe that same healer could instead carry around a lizard whose saliva acts as an antidote for poisons when combined with magic. Or a bnuuy who has fur so soft it can heal psychological damage. This would be a nice twist on the concept and the more I think about it the more I really like it
>darkness
Squid ink, raven feathers, (I promise I'm not trying to do animals again lol), coal (would be ironic cause usually they make light), obsidian, idk I'm out

>>23358426
Only one way to find out anon

>>23358426
Please brehs I need help.
My climax for my story is the hero survives a sinking island by grabbing onto his guitar.

Modern times suck. I can't have a setting with both modern norms and globalized fetishes.

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>>23358436
Well, using an animal to help soothe and heal a person isn't exactly what I was thinking, but making Healing magic easier if the user has a familiar is still something I might use, thanks!

These are okay ideas for Darkness magic, thanks, what about Light magic besides things like Gold and Diamonds? Not to mention necromancy besides bone?

Shouldn't robophilia be considered extremely shameful, even if perfectly human looking robot girls are common?

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I did not expect to get inspiration for Science Fantasy robots from an ecchi CLAMP manga. Now I want my own Supercomputer Waifus.

>>23358736
early stages of automation (near future) > Yes.
advanced high technological society (far future) > No

>>23359285
I feel they'd be seen as basically perverts. Just like how going to a hooker is seen in a disapproving way.

>>23358649
It would float for a while but it wouldn't be able to sustain the weight of a person above water

Should a "mind-swap" spell be under the "illusion" category of spells, or under the "channeling" category?
"Channeling" being the redirection of magical forces.
Mind-swamp kinda is an illusion spell in the sense that it it concerns with the use of the mind, but idk, that doesn't seem like an illusion to me. Are there examples of illusionists who mind swap with their enemies?

Read this essay by Poul Anderson:
https://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/04/on-thud-and-blunder/

i keep running into a chicken-and-egg problem of not being able to decide details of the setting until i know what i'm going to write, but not knowing what i want to write until i've tied down details of the setting. i've got a vague idea of both, but i'm basically rudderless. how do i snap out of it?

>>23359916
For me, once I have a setting fleshed out, the story writes itself, since characters can simply go from point A to point B and the rest is just exposition of the setting.
I recommend you a top-bottom approach also because creating a setting while having a story already in mind will result in an artificial-feeling setting. In other words, it will result in a setting which revolves around the story, which is a mistake.
You should always avoid Making the reader feel like the world revolves around the characters.

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>>23350138
I’d like have a race with varieties based on the classic four elemental forces in my fantasy story’s setting, like Genasi in DnD but more interesting and lacking the genie association. Besides the typical elemental hair, eyes, and skin colors, and element-themed magical birthmarks, I need more ways that their element can affect their forms while still keeping them fairly humanoid, what would suggest that I do there short of just making them completely composed of their elements?

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I am really bad at naming things. I'm trying to name a tech company like Black Mesa from Half-Life, or Aperture Science from Portal. There's an indie game that's very HL-inspired called Abiotic Factor, with it's own company called GATE, and that just seems way too on the nose to the point it might as well just be called Stargate.

All I really know is I don't want it to be based off of names like Weyland-Yutani.

>>23357930
What's that magic system like?

>>23358387
>humans killed one and stole it's divine "dna" to try and enchance humanity or whatever, but what they really did was "unlock the power of creation" for demons/ayy lmaos/fallen angels to use for themselves
If humans stole it, then how did the demons/ayys get their hands on it?

>>23360092
>I am really bad at naming things.
Just ask chatGPT and it will give you huge lists of possible names.
You could say "in a fantasy setting, suggest me names for a dangerous masrh city" or just straight up say "suggest me names for my spaceship company"

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>>23360109
>Just ask chatGPT and it will give you huge lists of possible names.
ChatGPT has only gotten shittier every time I've used it and even on earlier versions it was absolutely god-awful at naming things. Saying the names it craps out are generic would be generous.

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>>23360120
It works for me, you are just biased and negative.
Also, you could use it as inspiration only, you don't need to keep it intact like that, you could even combine the suggestions.
Yours is a NGMI mentality.

>>23360130
Now ask it to list some more, but this time without using alliteration and one word instead two per name.

>>23360138
Why don't you try it, fag?
Also, which part of "use it as inspiration" you didn't understand?
Being this reluctant to accept any form of help or inspiration may be the cause of your issues at naming things.

>>23360153
>Why don't you try it, fag?
I deleted my account and don't want to make a new one.

>Being this reluctant to accept any form of help
I was hoping to get some help that doesn't just boil-down to "ask AI"

>>23360158
Account? You don't need an account anymore.
Also, it's difficult to help someone that doesn't even try the simplest solutions by himself.

>>23360105
Cause they injected it into animals, which dont have spirits and can be possessed by aliens. Humans have Spirits so they cant be possessed unless they strike a deal with the ayys, but animals are vulnerable to attacks of this kind because they lack a core that is needed for full sentience

>>23357353
"B side you" is kinda wacky and psychedelic, which is not bad, just not my cup of tea.
The writing itself is pretty bad though, i'm not a fan of transitions such as:
>"Let's do a time jump… Now, this is the story of Piripiri."
And the dialogues are weird too.
I know it's kinda yours style but it just feels low quality idk

>>23360166
Not him but your afraid to do it because the results will prove him right

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>>23360092
the world is platonic; divided into two parts, idea and form. Magic is using equations and calculations and a CAD (magic computer) to access and/or modify idea, which then leads to a change in form. There are hard limitations such as the "three great unsolved problems of gravity based magic" one of which is that flying spells are considersd impossible, because it requires multiple changes in velocity layered over and over each other, and at that amount of layering, the casting becomes very unstable and destructively interferes with itself although this is solved eventually. Magic is considered a tool as much as any other engineering technique, whether for civil or military purposes, and the obvious politial and social problems ensue from that. Oh, and magicians are all the product of genetic engineering and eugenics, so there's that

>>23360303
yeah don't worry abt that... That story is like 1 year old already. But however thx so much for the feedback!

Sorry for not answering lol (Wasn't very good with english at that time so mayyyyybe used google translator at some point)

>>23360626
I'm an ESL too. Just out of curiosity, did you write it in your primary language first and then translate it?
Or did you write it directly in english?
It's cool either way.

>>23360679
First in spanish, then translated to english... Heh

>>23351322
Not really a consport but but I've been thinking about the idea of endurance horse racing in the style of modern endurance motorsport. Something like 24 hour of le mans but with horses.

>>23360524
Okay, but what can it do?

>>23360916
anything that can be encoded into a change of the information in Idea. So your standard stuff: moving objects, stopping falls, starting fires or heating, flash freezing, outrageously high jumps or gliding, strengthening material, forming a barrier that stops projectiles, blocking sound out from an area, modifying fundamental forces of nature on limited scales (for whatever reason), and at the more extreme level, mass-energy conversions

Its essentially "sufficiently advanced technology"

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>>23358407
Yeesh, how did I miss this until now? What about a fire elemental that's a snake? But yeah, that's not a bad idea for non-sapient elementals, thanks. Got any other cool ideas like this, such as cool abilities for elementals of each element?

>>23361119
As for special abilities it's pretty hard to come up with stuff that isn't just straight up control over their respective element. I guess you gotta just try and think outside the box. Maybe that firesnake has an ability that lets it create smoke that it can slither up so it can get a massive height advantage. Imagine seeing a dark cloud in the distance, thinking it's a storm, but really it's a fire elemental on its way to eat a village or some shit lol idk. You would normally expect an air elemental or even water to use clouds as a tool, so it would be really novel for a snek to do that
Just try to come up with unique was to surprise your readers and keep them on edge

>>23360130
Not him, but is there anything to remember when using it?

>>23350156
There are things beyond human understanding but humans are very important. The universe is essentially a big russian nesting doll, and God created us to be the next step in the doll. Eventually humanity as a conscious will ascend through the Sephiroth and achieve the power of creation, thus continuing the cycle as we give birth to a new race that will eventually ascend.
Opposing this are a set of lovecraftian style old gods, who while they are God's contemporaries, failed to truly ascend. Allowing them to corrupt, but not truly create. As such their goal is to acquire enough humans to allow them to because true creators themselves.
Idk if they're the weirdest but my favorite are the moon soviets. In the late 80s the constructed a moon base on the dark side of the moon in order to commune directly with The Hermit, the keeper of eldritch knowlage. This was done unbeknownst to america and most of the soviet consulate even. As they lived in communion, recieving pure eldritch radiation from this distant planet sized brain, they eventually mutated into the stereotypical Roswell grays. Their brains becoming so big so fast they began cannibalizing the rest of their bodies for nutrients.

What do I do if I can't integrate a particular faction into my setting, but can't get rid of them without overcomplicating things?

My biggest psychological block when I worldbuild is to avoid any Indian nationalism. I don't want to fall into the same brainrot my countrymen do, where we forge imaginary greatness out of wish fulfillment.

I'm adding lolis.

>>23362409
You'll probably need to give more details than that. What exactly does removing them complicate?

I've decided to set upon creating a "Rome" to go along with my idea of the Tripurans, and other remnants of the original Mage Empire, as the "Christendom" of the setting.

Here are some things it needs to be. I'm stating them so that I can get it clear in my mind. These are things that made Rome important for modern history, and so should this "Rome":

>It must be the greatest, most powerful Empire to have existed in the region.
>It must have declined and collapsed in the past.
>Its works must be so great that even their ruins awe the survivors of their collapse.
>The "modern" people should have some sense of continuity, like the Frankish and other Christianized German kings who saw themselves as heirs of Rome.
>The prevailing religion should have been codified in their era. This ensures their cultural practices will be carried on, and so will records of their existence and importance.
>Their writings and literature should survive to get translated later, and become a source for "modern" scholars to fanboy over.
>Their decline should be slow and old enough to have become myth.
>There should be a remnant left, like the Byzantines, to continue to keep their traditions and name relevant. Nobody will respect a long dead power otherwise.
>The self-proclaimed heirs should have been somehow subordinated to the "Rome".
>The "Rome" shouldn't just be known for their grandeur, but also their decadence and wickedness. This allows them to become a mythical example of how glory can corrupt. People love tragic narratives like that.

Babylon will do, I think.

>>23362486
For one thing, it means that the evil empire can roll over the rest of the world. For another, it sets tech back. For yet another, it removes the science fantasy aspect altogether.

And most importantly, it loses an important girl for the MC's harem!

>>23362508
Hmmmm all pretty #valid reasons to keep them around. What about it is keeping you from integrating it well? Is that science fantasy coming back to bite you?

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>>23361278
I was talking about for elementals in general, not just animal-form ones, but the smoke idea for fire elementals is a great idea, thanks!

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>>23350138
In my world the deities are each tied to one of the four seasons, especially creating four sub-pantheons whose power depends on the time of year, like the Winter gods being weakest in Summer and vice versa. I could use some help coming up with domains for each season though. Some are easy choices, like Summer getting Flame, the Sun, and War, Winter getting Water/Ice and the Moon, Fall getting Wind and the Harvest, and Spring getting Earth and Renewal, but what else works? I need at least a few more gods for each season, but I’ve got serious creative block. One idea I has was having some domains, like Life and Death, that are shared among the seasons but approached different ways, how would you rate that?

>>23350138
Recently I heard that Arthur Schopenhauer thought that a better model for marriage would be for two men to marry one woman. Sounded a little crazy to me but I started to think of how a system like that would work. I came up with a family structure where one well off, older man would be allowed marry two women, these women in turn would each be married to one younger, poorer man. The relationship between the two young men and the older man would be like that of a lord and his vassal, this way they would presumably have enough affection for him as to not feel envious. Now I'm wondering how a society with a family structure like this would operate. I imagine it would have something like a socialist economy due to a greater emphasis on cooperation. I also think it would be very religious since a society like that would need to have a strong focus on suppressing desires

>>23351257
neonazi right wing mercenary feminist female only group that starts up as a PMC and ends up conquering the world by war and forced annexation.

OC Donut Steel

>>23362529
That they are the only Science Fantasy faction, for one thing. So they stick out. They don't belong. And the fantasy parts don't gel with their scifi parts.

What's the best era for a literal Wizard to show up in and start a religion that could take over the world?

Bronze Age Babylon?

>>23364387
20th century BC, Near East.

>>23364223
Then just introduce the fantasy parts. Or is it that you can't imagine magic in a world of advanced technology?

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>>23356150
I've drawn quite a bit of art about them.

>>23364223
Damn unless you're willing to really rewrite them then, it might be worth it TO wipe them out. If they're literally the only things keeping the science fantasy, is it better to do away with that aspect? Would it be possible to disseminate their pieces among your already-presant factions?

>>23364223
just tone down their conflicting element if it sticks out that bad

>>23364387
Honestly I'd probably vote for a rando wizard over the two geriatrics being wheeled out in November.

>>23358426
It would float by itself because it's wooden and hollow. But if it got any water in it would sink. Even then, I very much doubt that it would have the buoyancy to hold a person above water.

>>23359916
I wrote about 10 chapters, roughly 20k words in total, then went back and made changes.
I saw once I reached that point the deeper implications of the magic I'd already made and edited the story I had to that point before I was too deep to make large changes.
If it's something actually foundational, then you can't do that, because at that point you're just going to need to redo everything anyways.

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>>23364387
1950s

>>23362449
What are some settings that are particularly guilty of this?

>>23367174
The Amish-verse. The Meluhha trilogy was the first of his Schizo nationalist screeds, but not the last.

How many lovecraftian gods is too many? I have 5 not including the Christian God and Satan.

Any book (or other) recommendations about chinese history/culture? want to improve my country analogues

>>23367843
>lovecraftian gids coexisting with god and satan
>satan being a god
???
the hell are you doing?

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>>23350138
So, assuming that there are a lot of world building fags here, how bad would it feel to read a story with hints about a deeper mystical plot/world bulding but that ends up all being irrelevant and dropped in the third arc and revealed to all be representations of the MC deeper character flaws and struggles? Would you feel betrayed or would it be okay if everything makes sense by the end at the cost of any hint of a deeper worldbulding being completly gone? It's just that i came up with a fun gimmick to represent the MC's flaw in a unique way and supernatural characters to go along with but I'm thinking lorefags would end up being angry in the end when it's all revealed to not really be "real".

>>23368079
Satan's on a lower tier but he's still a player on the cosmic stage so it's worth mentioning he's around.

>>23369117
Itd work as long as the MC's arc and character were more compelling than the implied mystery. It'd be a treacherous path to be sure though.

>>23359911
Nice. Got any more like this?

>>23369117
>with hints about a deeper mystical plot/world bulding but that ends up all being irrelevant and dropped in the third arc

Many have done this. It always sucks.

What do you think of a book whose protagonist is a person working for the UN of which we learn the whole story of the book through the protagonist's personal writings in the form of diaries or work reports or through newspaper articles and other archival records, perhaps even with photographs if it would be possible to do so?
Any suggestions of any comparable titles?

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>>23350138
Why does it seem the the go-to aesthetic for "Eldritch Terror" defaults to "insane amounts of tentacles"? Surely we can do better.

>>23360130

those all sound like levels from Spyro

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>>23350138
What’s the best way to design magic items for fantasy stories, and how can you make sure that you’re not making them too OP?

>>23370810
isn't that what the anne frank diary of a young girl was formatted like. i think this overall is a pretty popular exposition method that writers use a lot and should be good for you to try it out.

>>23350138
good initiative, OP, I like to see generals of this caliber

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>>23371200
because that is a simplify version of one the the things what lovecraft used and most people are to lazy to come up with something different, so they just copy it
what is a shame because even in d&d you can find some unsettling eldritch designs that don't rely on tentacles and could easily be stole

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I working on a more animistic system, more of an immanent spiritual eco-system an mini-societies, for the metaphysics, magic and religion of my nascent world instead of the more traditional gods.
I'm trying to look up for similar things irl to use for inspiration and to understand how religions build along side those type of beliefs work.
so anyone has a tip or book recommendation for that ?

>>23372628
nice book about animism is singing saltwater country by john bradley

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>>23367843
>I have 5 not including the Christian God and Satan.
I would love to hear more about these gods.

>>23372210
I guess by giving them rules, limitations, and ways that they can become more powerful under the right circumstances
For example in my world I have these elemental gauntlets that channel elements. Very much inspired (stolen lol) from fable 3, where that was a core mechanic since actual magic was kinda outclassed or whatever idr was along time ago I played that
For example two of my characters have lightning gauntlets which lets them channel electricity. They mostly use it as supplementary to electrifiy their weapons and shields while fighting because actual electrical discharge is very taxing and it "drains" the energy, requiring the gauntlets to recharge. They can control the power and accuracy separately by using different combinations of finger extension, but all of it costs different amounts of power. They can use it more efficiently and more dangerously in rain but in close quarters the gauntlets also have a chance to hurt the user since it's an electric shock
I guess my advice is
>FIRST do what you think is COOL
>THEN come up with some rules and limits (but not too many) to contain that
>LASTLY come up with situations where it CAN be OP that are not always available to the characters and they have to work to achieve
With those steps you have a fun, cool, and balanced magic item

>>23370449
I've not read one like this
>>23369117
Just fucking go for it bro

>>23352323
are you enjoying your setting? (reading it, writing it etc)
if yes: it's good as is
if no: change up some things
The most important thing when regarding your own hobby is whether you are enjoying what you are doing.
Unless you have some monetary incentive for writing ofc like wanting to get published

Why would a Magic Academy take over governance of a country?

>>23374291
The children of merchants and other higher class people send their kids and then bribe teachers to let them pass classes that they shouldn't, so when an idealist rises to headmaster he begins going against this practice, cracking down on the corruption of his school, which causes action from said high class people.
They push too far, and effectively cause a civil war of lower class + magi vs high class.
The magi from the high class have ironically left themselves incredibly weak because of their shady methods to ensure that the right people graduate.
So the war goes from defensive to offensive when the headmaster realizes that if he wants to make any real change, it isn't enough to use a show of force to bargain, he needs to take over the entire system.

Bear in mind that a state must have the monopoly of force to remain in power.
If any institute is allowed to take hold, they risk being taken over.
It's why a nation that heavily relies on mercenaries is dangerous, because a failure to pay means that half of the army that is supposedly yours is now plundering your lands for their wages.

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>>23350138
>/wbg/ Worldbuilding General

I have a sci-fi economic question if you don't mind:

My science fiction's *civilian* society has entered into something resembling a post-energy-scarcity situation, but not a completely post-resource-scarcity situation. By that I mean they have things such as Cold Fusion Power Plants, making enormous quantities of clean, inexpensive, energy, that has made domestic consumer demand for energy effectively a non-issue. However, raw resources and physical space still exist as limitations. Space industries do exist, but I'm under the impression that energy consumption scales up and scarcity is more of a commonality up there.

My question is basically: What remains commodifiable at this level of development? Like, what are civilians basically spending money on "nowadays"?
My initial idea is that such a level of energy production creates a more stratified economy where utilities (water/plumbing, electricity, internet, heating), public transportation, and access to a small quantity of necessary goods (food, clothing, and maybe designated free-housing), can now be made obligate/free. But then stuff like merchandise, service industry experiences, recreational drugs & narcotics, appliances, vehicles, larger private housing, pets, etc.. still need to be bought and sold, right?

>>23374291
Make them the premier military force on the planet, give them some legitimacy, and bind them with some constitution or something that can get them to more or less work together.

>>23350138
How do you engage in world building in a novel where the MC isn’t assumed to know it all?
Do you fog of war and gradually explain things, have some random NPC/ side character explain things while keeping the MC in the first person and the narration limited in scope? I tried doing this for a writing project and I can’t figure out how to make it flow or sound good.

I am writing a novel set in a fictional city similar to Venice (geographically) and I'm such an autist that I have done almost 50 hours of geographical, topological and hydrological research because I don't want some cunt to be like, "erm actually that doesn't make sense".

>>23373847
And I'd be happy to tell! To give the truncated version since I'm technically on the clock rn...
A big thing to know is this setting is all magic is done by (unknowingly) entreating these higher powers to change the world for you. The abrahamic god is the only one that can actually create, all these other "Tarot Entities" as my main character refers to them can only corrupt stuff.

The World
The Judeo-Christian God. Governs healing, warding, cleansing flame, limited precognition. Has no drawbacks to his power, only requires your devotion and the following of his commandments. His power is less reliable than the others, as he does not always act when called. His plans are unknowable after all.

The Hermit
A planet made entirely of eyes, dwells in the far depths of space. Holds power over illusions and knowledge. Can hide things in plain sight as well as suck the mind and life from others. To call upon him is to allow his breadth of knowledge to flood into your mind. This comes to the detriment of your sanity and your memories. Some forget how to speak, others forget how to breathe. Paranoia is all too common. You can read the future in the stars, but the act of learning that information always becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The High Priestess
The mother of the woods. Keeps watch over the old rituals and all things in nature. Controlling plants, controlling animals, even polymorphing. To allow her in is to allow yourself to become one with nature, with beasts. Takes the form of an impossibly tall redwood tree, its bark shaped in the skulls of countless animals.


The Emperor
Domination. Mind Reading. Necromancy. Manifesting one’s worst fears in their own mind. The Emperor is for those who demand others to serve him. But in turn you must serve the emperor. To request his aid is to pay a tithe. Your body, your memories. Some clever casters pay in things like hair. Stuff they can remove and grow back. Some lose whole parts of their body, and must live with the knowledge the emperor could take them over at will. Appears as a tall, inhumanly buffed man, without an inch of skin. A crown of stars rests upon his head.

The Tower
Decay object, accelerate to equilibrium, scatter energy (force to heat, etc.). The tower is entropy. Its typical form is of a black mold. To use this power is to increase the amount of entropy in the universe, and in you.

The Moon
Keeper of all arcane secrets. A massive sea monster dwelling in the depths of the ocean. Allows one to dreamwalk, control water, or warp space. Side effects of his power include insomnia. Vivid nightmares about an endless black ocean. And sinking into your own subconscious. Those who abuse the moon oft find themselves physically twisted into dark reflections of the deepest selves. The jungian shadow.

Satan also exists for largely mechanical reasons but I'm considering erasing him and giving all his stuff to the Empiror. I feel like there may be too much overlap.

>>23374768
Honestly based. Extra bonus points if it also occasionally floods like the real life Venice

>>23374955
Oh yeah, the tide plays a big part in the culture of the city.

>>23375015
I will now read your book

>>23375030
I’ve got a few years to go but thanks anon :.)

>>23375041
Dont we all

>>23374406
Probably it'd end up being human made objects or social displays. Money is essentially just a representation of human man hours. If someone didn't need to spend money on their basic needs, the next thing up the hierarchy of needs is social connection and the human spirit. So it'd probably be spending money on live music, plays, sporting events, eating out, handmade furniture, paintings or art commissions, or anything else that facilitates human interaction.

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So I have a tribe of people with similar abilities to sandbenders from avatar

I wanted two "warrior" castes, I was thinking what would be some good ways to differentiate them from one another? I wanted one based off the Dai Li and the other based off more elite soldiers, but I wanted their style of bending to differ. What would be some ways to make them distinct from one another?

>>23376775
The immediate thing that comes to mind is fluid versus more disciplined. Make making solid stuff from sand vs. controlling them like water

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>>23376793
The issue I had with that is that their abilities heat the particles up immensely (like how medieval defenders would heat sand and pour it on their foes).

So solidifying the burning hot dust seems sort of less necessary.

Although, I could say that it gives the compacted solid dust explosive properties.

>>23376816
Hmmmm my thought with heated sand is glass blowing. I would look into the works of Dale Chihuly, imo you could create some striking aesthetics from that, if nothing else

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>>23350138
How do you keep a hydromancer from being completely OP in an ocean or lake, especially if they're an aquatic race?

>>23377020
I actually did intend a molten form of the ability to be accessible to a single character, but the idea of using it for striking art is really good. Thanks.

I think for the two castes, one will focus on solidifying their dust into explosive projectiles, the other will have dust that is hotter and is more devastating.

>>23377198
You don't

>>23377198
As a race, or as an individual?

Assuming individual:
>allergic to some common thing
>short range for hydromancy
>near-sighted making ranged combat difficult (alternative to above)
>low stamina for whatever reason

Me personally I'd say the hydromancer SHOULD be OP in an ocean or lake.

>>23377198
Why wouldn't a race be OP in their home element? Literally anyway you try to hand wave away their advantage in such environments is going to feel contrived.

>>23350138
Geography is the hardest part for me.

>>23377198
first establish what hydromancy is, what it can do, how it is supposed to work in universe, how much each people know about how it works, and by extension how they think it woks
Doing that you will have an easier time deriving the limitation of that type of magic

I need names for spirits and elementals. Tossing a bunch of letters together make for unreadable slop.

I'm currently trying to construct a political system formed in a nation ruled under a monarch that holds four highly incompatible regions together in the service of defending the nation from outside threats. It's important that each region has its own culture and martial style, economy and philosophical background that gives them each cause to dislike the others, but they have such ties to the monarch and such disdain for external nations that they work together despite the fact that the eastern region and the northern region hate each other basically as much for example.

This tension is further exacerbated by the fact that fiefs are granted to religious leaders that are given total control of entire towns in exchange for their service in keeping the word of false gods out of the hearts of their people and their faith and loyalty directed to the monarch and the good of the empire, as well as hunting down a certain group of "others" Who demonstrate aptitude at fighting and are thus drafted into the many wars of the empire.

These religious leaders often employ differing municipal structures ranging from a mayor with a council of advisors to handle economic affairs, to a dictatorship in which the leader takes full control. This is kept in check by a regional military leader, one for each region, which gives each town a yearly checkup to see if the fief given is being used well or the religious leader is just being a dictator because he can.

My goal is to establish the notion of an empire that truly has no identity except something that must exist at any cost. No matter how much it hates itself. It is beset on all sides by an ancient enemy and has had no time to breathe and define what its purpose is as a nation. The people are largely discontent. Is this realistic to employ as a world or is it too shaky a concept to explore further. My setting has a fleshed out magic system of sorts that has kept this empire going for over a thousand years, though its users are regarded as those "Others" I mentioned and thrown to the frontlines,

>>23378251
I can see the notion of a nation that holds its inner strife at bay by an agreed upon set of external evils to be not just plausible but to resonate really hard with an american audience especially. Elaborate on the magic system a bit and tie it into the world building aspect though. How has the system impacted the empire? The biggest pitfall a lot of fantasy writers come into is making a cool world and an awesome power system that's just window dressing, an excuse to make characters throw fireballs and swing swords.

>>23378234
Whta kind of spirits asshole?

>>23378263
The power system is an extension of the desires innate in each person manifesting in a variety of ways that the empire keeps largely under wraps, and the empire itself exists to do just that. Acknowledgment and control of this power system is basically the driving force of the entire plot and every empire/kingdom revolves around it in some way.

Though yes I do plan on making the book combat centered especially in later volumes when the plot and characters are set up properly.

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>>23350138
What are some good potential domains for a mother goddess besides Fertility and Creation? Happy Mother’s Day, by the way!

>>23378906
Defensive war or protection. Some kind of wayward traveler thing kind of like imagine meeting someone at a crossroads they take you in feed you guide you ect. If you want to go authoritarian you could be like the goddess of rehab, their temple take in prisoners from the surrounding areas makes sure they give back to the communities they hurt while reintegrating them into society. Like just think of an aspect of what motherly is and make it a diety. The last one would be a very very powerful god if they wrap in a basic education system for everyone as well. Like main god of pantheon level. They basically would control said society since they would touch every life in their growing years while also controlling the justice system. The father could be war or production and the mother would be the guiding hand from the back.

>>23378906
Cleanliness
Love
Cooking
Baking

>>23378428
This is what I'm thinking. Each have their own name, element, symbol, and chemical. Add them together and you get gunpowder (I know arsenic isn't in the formula). Some angry non-mage mixes these things, and now non-mages can fight against mages.

Cathedral Gnome - - Earth - Potash - Eaia
Sanctuary Salamander - - Fire - Sulfur - Freier
Tabernacle Udine - - Water - Pewter - Soudon
Shrine Sylph - - Wind - Arsenic - Zyfer

>>23378234>>23379372

Elementals are easy, but also way too easy to be derivative. What you have here is a pound for pound rip off of Monster Girl Quest and if you think none of us are cultured enough to see that you're dead wrong.

>>23378906
Rather than having the standard mother goddess figure live in a place that she creates, have her live in a place that would create the ideal mother figure. A protected and spiritually upright society that values its women while not bending to their every whim.

>>23378638
I feel that the notion of a power system being the thing to hold a set of nations together is a decent idea, just ask yourself this. At every level of the government you build, there should be a level of motivation implied in the people in that class. Eg, the religious leaders could hold basically any position from genuine honor to salacious greed, while the higher ranked leaders would probably be more consumed with higher ideals.

>>23379447
Really out of everything you cite, you cite monster girl quest? I was thinking Tales of, but I guess MGQ is newer. Okay time to change up the lore.

>>23351257
1-Mother son incest
2-Fascism
3-DBZ power levels
Chat, could we make this work?

>>23379472
It was an impeccable hentai game with a plot better than any modern day triple A game. Salamander Udine Sylph and Gnome were literally elemental figures in that game each associated with those elements. Out of thin air I can play the final boss theme in my mind, fuck rotating apples this is a mans mental projection. You and everyone else on this thread should aspire to create a work as competent and original as MGQ.

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>>23379510
Salamander, Udine, Sylph and Gnome were based off some swiss guy's belief how the world was made

>>23379492
This is just Kill la Kill if you replace son with daughter. Fuck it, ill try one.

1. Succubus femdoms that arise from an attachment to a world that never was and bind willful men to a pointless chase that only ends in facesitting them to death
2. Medieval kingdoms in a constant war.
3. HxH Nen style power system.

>>23351257
>being a multi-cocked monster breeding human women
>Monarchy
>bending from Avatar but with my own elements
>hot bitches to breed

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>>23376061
>Probably it'd end up being human made objects or social displays.
>So it'd probably be spending money on live music, plays, sporting events, eating out, handmade furniture, paintings or art commissions, or anything else that facilitates human interaction.

Thanks, that's what I figured as well, but wanted a second opinion.
Basically everything in the: Social, Self-Esteem, and Self-Actualization, Pyramid of Human Needs still has to be more or less bought and sold. So with that in mind I wanna say there'd still be:
Home media stores (video games, televisions, records and other physical media), pet stores, home garden and furniture type stores, restaurants, spas, and other service industry establishments - as well as like you said commissioned work, social events like concerts, plays, festivals, grey market "out of my garage" businesses, and a host of other various businesses.

A part of me was worried too many businesses would be made obsolete. I have it in my head that grocery stores & convenience stores would be almost nearly designated to a "dispensary" role, but now that I think about it; farmer's markets would still be a thing and convenience stores would, if anything, not only still be the exact same thing (selling the convenience of processed manufactured 'treat' foods) but probably quite popular.

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>>23377517
The relatively short range idea makes the most sense to me, thanks.

Okay, so are pyromancers OP near volcanoes, aeromancers on mountains or windy planes, etc.?

>>23351257
>the kink

Catholic guilt sourced masochism (skin me alive mommy)

>Your political power fantasy

The story is set in a hyper religious theocracy that collapses under the weight of its own supremacy narrative. So I guess my leftism and anti-authoritarianism is shining through.

>Esoteric magic system

All magic is weird as fuck and only barely explained basically. You have to cut all the skin off your hand and dip it in a pot of boiling water where a gold coin will appear, bury that coin on your property, and it'll keep an evil lamb from floating onto your property and eating your children in the night.

>Characters

Fucked up pope
Fucked up moth
Fucked up skinless prophet
Fucked up savior figure
Fucked up version of god who kills himself when he sees his own handiwork

>>23351257
>The kink

Sterile environments and being hurt by scientists

>The political power fantasy

Nothing really, its set in an abandoned town where the platonic world of forms intersects with reality, and a company commissioned to inspect it finds out that the platonic world of forms has cancer. Not especially political honestly.

>Esoteric magic system

Nothing directly magical, but there is a lot of technology and horrible things that can happen to you in the town. You can suffer a complete ontological collapse, during which your entire framework for reality literally collapses around you and you turn into a giant meat pillar or something else weird and horrifying. You can also get caught in an eternally intersecting corner of hyperreality, in which your consciousness is folded endlessly and reformed into an awareness that is so separated from human that you are now basically a god who is stuck in a single point in space unable to move at all.

>Characters

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nothing lol mostly a concept

quote retweet this meme with your own story hehehe what an epic thread fellow redditors

How am I ever make a city as detailed as Revachol, man? So much to learn.

>>23380772
You offer nothing but being a contrarian faggot with zero constructive input and all over a meme used as a discussion point to get the ball rolling on a relatively in depth topic that requires paragraphs of explanation. Fuck you.

>>23380928
Deconstruction usually helps. Look at each facet of why you think something is complex and detailed and write it out, take those ideas and repurpose them

>>23351257
>kink
Monster women with very masculine coded personalities (I'm very sexist)
>Politics
An endless cold war, with magic being used in conjunction with spy shit to keep it going (possibly forever).
>esoteric magic system
All magic is based on making some kind of offering to higher deities in order for them to change the world for you. Depending on who you're reaching out to, they can do different things and want different things from you. Some of these prices are literal (flesh and such) others are more metaphorical (decaying your personality).
>Characters
A paranormal private detective who's spent too long beyond the pale, and as a consequence is very knowledgable but is also a paranoid weirdo.
A prototype ghost killing android with a childlike wonder for the world, but also a very unstable personality.
An exorcist who seems like a bad priest, but actually holds intensely strong moral convictions.
A soviet commando half lizard woman who intends to turn the characters toward serving the soviet union.
A hacker woman who's basically a NEET who pays for her ghost hunting hobby by exploiting her computer knowlage.
The blacker baron from anarchy reigns.
And fujiko mine if she was a several hundred year old kitsune acting as an agent of the CIA because she was bored.

>>23351257
1: Kink
Selective breeding to acquiere different shapes sizes and features.
2: Political fantasy
Civilized hubs surrounded by wild frontier on a constant state of upheaveal between kingdoms and city states, with short lived empires spread throughout.
3: Magicks
All magic is Thelema tier mysticism which is 1/4th made up, and 1/4th wrong with the remainder being real magic. Thereis a 1/2 chance your enemy is ruined in two days and dies horribly balanced with the other half being that your dick is immediately set on fire/your head explodes.
The only alternatives making deals with the timeless C'thonian ancestors, which have unpredictable effects due to very marked disagreements on the meaning of words. (The old ones can understand our language, but nonetheless have very different conceptions of things like 'good', 'evil', 'justice', 'retribution', 'mild', 'wellbeing', etc. And these all vary between gods, so each entity needs its own dictionary). Example: You ask one of the gods for a 'good wife' in exchange of a bountiful amount of fruit, satisfied with the bargain, something grants your wish, two days later your sister shows up at your house attempting to seduce you.
Or you have make a deal with the Aliens, who in exchange for bizarre spiritual techniques/technology will use you as a pawn to play 10D chess against eachother (Which manifests as something like Warhammer Fantasy's Great plan of the old ones). The best case scenario is you end up as a cult leader selectively delivering enlightenment to further their spirit wars and living it up in your compound(s).
The other option is that you actually snort the space vril they give you (wtf lmao) and they incessantly fuck with you by beaming EDM directly into your brain and telling you to kill, save, or otherwise influence people around your region, all while supplying you with the exact amount of money to get drugs&alcohol with the ocassional extra thing, but never enough to get a house.

>>23381839
acquire*
And the selective breeding is specifically of Women.

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Does this feel a little bit too contrived to you?
>The crowd sits silently in a semi-circle, directly on the floor, some bow their heads, some look forward. All face the same thing, a small hearth in which a smokeless flame burns gently, the color of honey and the sound of spring breezes
>Four steps from of the flame, and you are filled with a soothing feeling, every injury mended, every tiredness forgotten, the weight on your back lifted at last
> Three steps from the flame and your glories past and promised bow and greet you, your shame forgotten and buried deep beyond memories
>Two steps from the flame and all your fears rushes from your belly like snakes from a pit, and only the warmth of the fire keeps them away and inside, and a worldless voice bids you to stand even closer, to touch the fire and accept its warmth within you forever

>>23382430
It depends on how you're going to spin it. Is it a benevolent god that's going too far in protecting its followers, or is it an inexplicable force of nature that simply feeds off of people through some kind of magic/memetic agent that makes them worship it?

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Greetings, I've been constructing animated creature spotlights along with snippets from my work.

Soft magic systems are so fucking hard to work with, how do you properly implement restrictions and backlashes without coming off as amateur?

>>23371200
Tentacles are fairly efficient, rare in nature and weird. They also are mostly seen in the sea, which still to this day is not fully explored, that's why lovecraft used them, mostly. There could unironically be some tentacled monster down there.
As for originality, even lovecraft didn't entirely rely on tentacles. Mi-Go are a race of fungi-crustaceans, and the elder things seem more like sea-cucumbers than anything else, really.
>>23376775
One of them are desert nomads, the others live in cities. Both hate each other, but fight together as a nation when the time comes.

>>23382976
very cool drawings

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>>23383178
Thank you!

>>23380928
The first guy gave good advice. But I would reccomend you also dive in to the story of a city (you favourite city, for example) and all it slittle kinks, nooks and crannies. Reality is the best teacher.

>>23382968
Closer to the second

>>23383241
Could be good then, if you wanted to drive the allegory of how people worship things that help them avoid reality you could make it a Grove with addictive fruits or something similar.
But that's just the impression I've gotten from the small excerpt you've provided, good potential though.

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I'm really bad at worldbuilding. I think of adding supernatural systems to various worlds or historical timelines, but trying to imagine the possible consequences of them is next to impossible.

Like if you introduced some basic telepathy or mind-reading powers into a fantasy world with psychics, how would society change around this? It seems like the entire recognizable power structure of any world would be completely different. Would the psychics be the rulers, or would they be ostracized except for very specific roles? It seems most people couldn't possibly trust them so they could only exist in a cloistered environment and the fun fantasy trope of a bunch of adventurers with various powers just seems even less probable.

Never posted before, but I’ve wanted to write for a long time and am trying to finally get something down on paper and interested in feedback. I am writing short stories about a gnome and his adventures.
The purposes of these stories are:
1. Nature writing, to write beautiful prose describing nature
2. I enjoy Fairy stories, simple stories with a magical element in a nature setting
3. Some stories I write will be about the intrusion of technology into nature. My gnome will not understand technology and when human technology disrupts nature it will lead to confusion for the gnome and dramatic tension in the story
4. I want to work on Characterization

My ideas so far:
- protagonist of these stories is a gnome
- the gnome spends his days tending to a human’s garden
- most of the plots will play out in micro-scale dramas that are significant to the gnome, but not to humans, such as the death of a butterfly
- most action will be driven by three things
1. The “original sin” of gnomes in my world, which is their desire to be noticed by humans, which is never realized directly, but always indirectly. A human will notice when a gnome moves their watering can, but not the gnome itself, frustrating. The gnome and spurring them to act out
2. The gnomish attention span is short and important tasks are often forgotten when they are distracted by something like a butterfly
-lastly, there is an element of magic, but it is purposefully undefined and the gnome doesn’t understand it. He is capable of little acts of magic that are as surprising to him as the reader. I hate defined magic systems, but love magic, so this will be purposefully mysterious but continuously present.

Anyway. This isn’t a great epic. It’s the framework for short fairy stories.

>>23384382
I think that sounds good. Sounds like it would make for a great children's series, genuinely.

>>23384495
Thanks, I’d like it be accessible to all ages but have deeper meaning for adults to pick up on

>>23383615
>if you introduced some basic telepathy or mind-reading powers into a fantasy world with psychics, how would society change around this?
That mainly depends on the context it can be used in, ie: who can use it, when, what does it cost, etc.
If it's a rare thing and most people are unaware of its existence, it won't change anything. If everyone could do it, then the changes would be pretty drastic, on the other hand.

>>23351257
1. Harem breeding + preggo sexo
2. Kemonomimi equality and racemixing while comitting Total jew/nigger/brown/etc Death
3. The Warp from Waghamma (also stolen from elsewhere)
4. Me - human male (special), dragons, kemonomimi sluts (pure virgins), kemonomimi but also manly manly bros

>Verification not required.

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>>23350138
How would you devise a magic system in which the Four Fundamental Forces are the main axioms around which magic revolves, including both traditional types of spells and more esoteric ones? Electromagnetism would get electric spells and maybe illusions, of course, and Gravity could get flight spells, but besides radiation spells for the Weak Force, and maybe creation magic for the Strong Force, I don't have a lot of ideas for those two, or ones besides the obvious for the other two forces.

>>23350138
I want to write a fantasy epic. Can’t go into details because I’ve shared a lot of my work here before and I am a bit worried about this coming back to bite me if I ever get off my ass and finish the story.
My idea for the conclusion is it all is that after the [big bad] is defeated, his apprentice/second in command/maybe even son(?) comes to kill Protag years later. The protagonist knew this person years ago, back when they weren’t as set on this road. He feels pity that things have turned out this way, and challenges the guy to a fight. The protagonist has him outclasses, yet lets the guy win anyways, and he’s smart enough to tell that Protag let him win. Angered and having the Protag at sword point, he demands a fair fight. The protagonist refuses, tells him if wants to continue down this path he’ll have to learn what it’s like to kill people without honor. The dude is furious and kills him.
The end. But there would be clues and character development over the course of the story to make readers discuss whether the killer went on to be the new big bad, or if he ended up changing his ways out of remorse for killing Protag.

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"Among the Nargash, when a member of the community dies it is custom to excarnated the body, the flesh feed to one of the temples sacred drakes, and the heart prepared separately with the 11 holy herbs and consumed by those closest with the diseased.
The bones, after cleaned and dried, are then used to line and decorate the interior of temple's rooms, the skull carved with glyphs representing it's clan, house, profession and achievements alongside it's ritual name. The skulls are line in altars where they receive offerings and can consulted by the priest during divination rituals."
a passage from Irkad's travel journal

>>23386834
Nigga do you think this thread is in a different universe from /wg/?

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>>23386810
>Weak Force
Deals with radioactive decay, so stuff like radiation and light blasts
>Strong Force
Holds atoms together, so stuff like disintegration beams. Clear Note from Gash Bell is a good inspiration.

I'm writing a group in my setting that are hybrids of both dark and light entities, creating a neutral result. What are some good traits that would be sort of a neutral version of the Seven Sins and the Seven Virtues? Something that can be both virtuous and evil.

>>23386810
They are all footnotes to EM theory, probably only arising from turning everything into particles; hence, all four have common ground in virtual particle wankery. No, a better direction would be to leave this stodge behind. Have the theorems of science be directly responsible for their powers:
1. Aether
2. Particles
3. Holographic
4. Simulation
5. etc etc
It would be much more interesting.

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>>23387196
Those seem a little OP, but alright. Got any more ideas for Gravity and Electromagnetism?

As for the Sins and Virtue traits, are we talking more personalities or powers here, it's a little unclear.

>>23387762
>Gravity
Stuff that makes things heavier or lighter
Increasing mass of a strike for a split second to make it hit super hard (think of it as taking the mass of a black hole)
>Electromagnetism
Magnetism spells (obviously)
Mind reading through reading electrical signals in ones brain

As for sins and virtues, I mean personality traits.

For example Determination is a good one as that's something that can be both used for good or for evil. That's one I've come up with so far

>>23384382
lmao love this

It's good to get input from others, but I seriously hope you guys arent completely outsourcing your creativity to other anons here
I haven't been frequenting this general, but I've checked in every so often and I think I recognize some posters who are here from the start of it still asking for ideas on their world. Again, it's fine to get input, but I think it's dangerous to take so many external ideas and substitute them for your own. Be careful anons. You dont want to end up with a hodgepodge world that has no cohesion

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>>23384382
That sounds like an absolutly wonderful concept anon
Just make sure you have a companion frog that's a recuring side character

>>23350735

Seconding what this anon said >>23351195 Not to sound like a midwit but I think illustrations and symbols and stuff like that could help the reader visualize it a lot better. You can take the Walter Moers (who does some zany fantasy, to put it simply) route and illustrate a lot of the characters, concepts, symbols, etc. Depending on the tone you're going for then obviously you'd need to define the aesthetic for your illustrations (realistic, cartoonish, artsy...) But that's an interesting concept I'd be willing to read about.

>>23387238
>Aether
People still think of that as science?

>>23357353
I read it, it's shit. Keep going.

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>>23387960
These are good start, thanks. As for the Sins, you might want to take a look at FMA's Greed, or the Homunculi in general (though Greed is easily the least evil of the bunch).

>>23390288
I'm writing traits that are neither good or evil, or rather can be used for both good AND evil.

Hence Determination was my first idea. It's both good, but it can be used for evil.

I think Ambition is another good one. It can be good, but it also can be used for evil.

>>23390360
Passion is something that shows up often enough in my story.
The mana isn't a conscious entity, but it once was, and what it's drawn to are the people who have passion about things.
Good or evil doesn't play into it, if you are pouring your heart into your magic, no matter the subject, it will help you by granting flashes of inspiration.

>>23389413
There has been no disproof of it. The modern materialist paradigm is just assuming particles do everything and name them like pokemon. It is really absurd.

>>23389413
Quit deadnaming her CHUD. Her name's Dark Matter now!

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>>23350138
How might a magic system based off of Quantum mechanics work, if we're talking incredibly complicated and mysterious forces?

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>>23390360
Well, again, look at FMA, Greed wants to keep the people and things he cares about safe, and desires and treasures companionship, and while he's the most outwardly good Homunculus a few others also show signs of traits like that.

>>23391971
just look up irl quantum mysticism and chaos magic
make it about messing with probabilities and tweaking you mind and the way you perceive/observe reality as a way to affect it

>>23391971
If it's incredibly complicated and mysterious you dont have to explain it you silly goose
Magic is magic
When magic is thoroughly explained it's not magic any but science. Do you want your "Magic system" to be magic or do you want it to be science?

I'm starting to hallucinate while reading Picatrix for my world building.

>>23392405
>magic is thoroughly explained it's not magic any but science.
that makes no sense, specially given that historical magic usually had thurow explanation of how they were suppose to work

>>23392986
Are you talking about real life magic? You fucking retard?

>>23393294
yes, there a bunch of historical practices referred as magic
they not working don't change that they existed and that people believed in those and in the complex physical and metaphysical explanations people of the past came up to justify and structure there beliefs

>>23392411
What ideas does Picatrix have that are worth stealing for our own worlds?

Instead of elements my magic draws from blood, brains, bones, and bile. When you combine them it creates life, but any out of sync creates a monster.

>>23392104
you just really like Greed don't you?

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>>23350138
What do you need to remember when including psychic abilities and/or mind magic in your story’s world?

>>23350735
I know that it's a joke that's been beaten to death at this point but what if Capitalism/Communism was an Anafabula that attacks/consumes worlds whose inhabitants possessed certain qualities like the capacity for reason and the awareness of resource scarcity

>>23367174
GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There!

>>23369117
>It was all in the MC's head the whole time
It's difficult to pull it off without feeling hackish and unoriginal at this point. Many have tried.

>>23370810
good news anon!
https://www.mysteryfleshpitnationalpark.com/

It's pretty good if you can pull it off
Dracula was also written in this format, well... kind of anyways.

>>23376775
One group could use more "fluid" sand constructs and techniques while the other group could be more focused on the "solid". They would have a lot of overlap in their techniques but they would differ in their comfort zones and their opinions on what makes for an effective sandbending maneuver.

>>23377198
Just let them be completely OP in their home environment and make up a reason why they don't try to take over the surface world and steamroll everyone else

>>23380389
>Okay, so are pyromancers OP near volcanoes, aeromancers on mountains or windy planes, etc.?
sounds good desu

Imagine a horde of Mongolic aeromancers, their singing would reverberate for miles around drowned out only by the thundering hoofbeats of their horses.

>>23380427
Isn't that just Elden Ring?

>>23393294
Real life magic is highly technical (in the Ellulian sense) and much closer to "science" than magicfags would like to believe

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>>23350138
Say you want to include a human-like sapient race that’s all or at least mostly female, and has females just as tall and muscular as the males, if not more so, if they ‘do’ have males, what’s the best way to go about it, and how might the biology of it all work?

>>23394206
This sounds like an interesting system, I’d love to hear more details on how it works.

>>23350156
Cosmic horror is outdated since its main schtick relied on the largely undiscovered world from a century ago, what you're looking for now is Nietzschean horror.

>>23396032
Maybe the natural birth ratios are just 10:1 female births to male births so males are generally sheltered because they can be traded with other families(group of sisters). They could also have a much larger incest taboo to prevent inbreeding

>>23396032
In my rendition of the author's poorly disguised fetish my race of amazons is anthropomorphized marine life, mainly shark women but it depends on the climate. Sexual dimorphism where females are larger than males is common among sea creatures so it works out.

>>23396830
Isn't that just A Brother's Price?

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>>23396880
damn, I just looked it up. I thought I was being original but it turns out I was a hack all along.

Is the book worth reading?

>>23396786
RETARDED post!

I need help coming up with the right words for this situation:

Suppose a sequence of letters which may arrive out of order from when they were sent (postmarked). I call the letter that was sent most recently the "latest", but what should I call the larger group of letters that were formerly the "lastest" at any time? Ironically, the letters excluded from that group for arriving after a more recent letter might well be called "late".

In math this is strict monotonicity. An analogous concept is record progression. For example, a sequence of race times. Most performances don't set new records, but there are a subset that do, culminating with the current fastest.


Naming the three groups "latest", "latests", and "late" seems like it might be confusing and retarded. Can you come up with something better? You're competing with /sci/ btw. I'm curious who will give me the better answer.

>>23396939
What the fuck are you talking about and why would it even be important?
Just say "recent letters"

>>23396902
it's kind of wish fulfillmenty like Twilight is for girls

the MC is a pretty and handsome dude who a family of princesses desire, and they fight another noble family over marrying him.